


Her

by StormFireGirl



Category: Original Work, X-Men Evolution
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Death, F/M, Guilt, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Japanese AU, Japanese Mythology & Folklore, Mutants, Original Character(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Rape/Non-con Elements, Self-Hatred, neko
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-10
Updated: 2016-11-10
Packaged: 2018-08-30 05:09:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8519728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormFireGirl/pseuds/StormFireGirl
Summary: Riku needs to talk to AJ.Lucky for him she's always there for him.But he wasn't for her.





	

He needed to talk to her.

 

Riku knew his best friend would listen to him. She had that kind of knack for it; no matter how crummy she herself felt, she'd listen and offer comfort, support, and a piece of advice (take it or leave it).

 

He walked into her room, and flicked the switch on. And there she was, sitting cross-legged on her bed, headphones over her ears. She was dressed casually, in a black 'MCR' tee and Galaxy-themed leggings, barefoot. She always hated wearing socks unless she had to. And as usual, he had to literally tip toe across her mess, clothes strewn everywhere. He could never understand why she needed to be so disorganized.

 

"Hey Riku." She grinned, looking up and hit 'pause' on her iPad, killing the rock music she'd been listening to. "What's up?"

 

He sighed. "... Cora and I broke up."

 

"Dude, what? Okay sit down!" She scooted over and the bed dipped as he did. "What happened?!"

 

"We, uh, we just decided it wasn't good to stay together..." He was on the verge of tears. His heart ached. His head hurt. He felt raw and empty so much that it was making him nauseous. He was obviously on the outside though showing his grief, ears pressed flat to his skull and tail a bit fluffed.

 

"Oh, Riku I'm so sorry." He didn't acknowledge her hand patting his shoulder. "That- that really sucks dude. Anything I can do to make you feel better?"

 

"C-can, I stay here for now?"

 

"Sure thing. Want me to get you some ice cream and a chick flick too?"

 

He laughed. "I think guys, deal with breakups differently than girls." He looked at her, into his hazel eyes, so vibrant... as vibrant as her green hair, which fell loose down her back and shoulders. He always loved it when she wore it like that.

 

He swallowed a lump in his throat, still staring at her, at the smudge of dirt on her freckled cheek. "I'm sorry."

 

"For what?"

 

"For everything."

 

"Aw, c'mon Riku." She poked his arm. He still didn't acknowledge it. "You don't need to-!"

 

"I do okay?! It's because of me that you-... you..."

 

"Hey, it- it wasn't your fault." She said softly. "What happened, happened. It's not your fault we fought. I was just being a drunken brat."

 

"But I drove you to it." His eyes watered again. "I drove you to leave the party."

 

AJ sighed. "... Riku, please, listen to me. No matter what happened that night, it's okay. I'm not mad anymore. I- well, I kind of have to not be." She laughed merrily, that sound that he adored. He'd missed it.

 

"I miss you." He then told her softly.

 

"I know."

 

"I miss you always following me around."

 

"I know."

 

"I miss you wanting to pick out my clothes and accessories."

 

"I know."

 

"I miss you begging me to take you to Hot Topic every single damn time they had a sale!"

 

"I know."

 

"I miss you asking me to cook you things."

 

"I know."

 

"I miss-... I miss fighting with you."

 

"I know-"

 

"WILL YOU STOP SAYING THAT?!" He exploded suddenly, turning on her like a feral animal. "AJ JUST-!... Just stop saying that."

 

"Riku, it's the truth okay? I know you miss everything. Even the shit that you hated, like my clinginess and our fights. I know that you... you'd do it all over, if it meant seeing me again." She smiled, her dark plum lipstick now smeared down her chin, her mascara running down her cheeks. "Seeing me alive."

 

He shuddered, so violently that his tail fluffed. All he could see now was how the police had found her in that storm drain. When he'd run up to the crime scene and saw them put her in a body bag...

 

_"What do you mean, she-... she's dead?"_

_"I'm sorry son."_

 

She had the marks now. The hideous claw and bites left on her flesh, the gouges from when she escaped. Her t-shirt was now soiled, and ripped up the front, exposing her bruised breast, missing a nipple. The coroner had said she was missing the rest of her clothes. That shirt did nothing to hide the huge gashes in her thighs, or the slit made by a speculated scalpel from her navel down across her womanhood. All was caked in that rusty, dark red hue. He whimpered as he saw sticks grow in her hair, flies spinning around her body-... her corpse.

 

_"Sexual assault, and mutilation. Cause of death were blows to the head, estimated to be fifteen times."_

 

Caked blood formed on her brown, sliding down over one eye that was forever swollen shut now, black sparkly nails now cracked. She smelled so badly, nothing like the Japanese Cherry Blossom stuff she'd use. She smelled of decay... she smelled of death.

 

 

_"No one is interested in finding a missing mutant."_

_"She was just a mutant, nobody cares."_

_"Why do you? If anything you're a suspect in her disappearance."_

_"There's nothing more we can do. We don't have any leads. You're relieved as a suspect... for now."_

_"Not that anything will happen. I mean, she was a freak! Freaks murdering freaks don't concern them."_

 

 

The tears flowed hotly now, and he almost jerked back when she reached out to touch her hand. "I died a hero Riku. I saved Cora's life." AJ spoke softly. She at least, still sounded like herself.

 

He could still hear that panicked phone call.

 

 

_"Riku! AJ... AJ was just kidnapped!"_

_"Cora?! Cora where are you!?"_

_"Bay River Park! Hurry! The guy that took her he-! He's a monster!"_

 

 

"It shouldn't have been you." He choked out. "You didn't have to-!"

 

"I did what was right though. She tried to save me first."

 

 

_"What happened?!"_

_"I followed AJ to the park, and I saw-! I saw that man that she's mentioned, following her! He grabbed her a-and pinned her to a tree and I panicked and I lunged-! But he... but he knocked me backwards and pinned me, a-and tried to strangle me! AJ... she stopped him before he could bite. She just, I think she was frozen in shock at first but then she snapped out of it and attacked. She tried... oh god it was awful... he just picked her up by her hair and-! And they vanished!!!"_

 

 

"He hurt you. I-I couldn't save you!" Riku hiccuped weakly.

 

"Cora was your priority. Its-!"

 

"Don't tell me it's ok AJ! Because of me, the one I always loved was defiled and murdered in cold blood all so-... so the girl I cared for at the time, could be with me."

 

"You always said I was an idiot. A self-sacrificing one, at least for the man I loved."

 

 

_"Riku, dammit why can't you accept it?! I love you! I love you and dammit I always will!"_

 

 

Her words to him on that fateful night rang prominently. "... I loved you too." He whispered. "And I wish I'd told you that sooner."

 

She smiled, the corpse suddenly renewed to how he remembered her. Bright and beautiful and young, giving him that wry smirk that riled him up. "Better late than never I suppose!" She leaned over, and kissed his cheek. And even if he couldn't feel it, he smiled gently. Always so forgiving.

 

"I'm, gonna go to bed okay?" He stood up and started to walk out-

 

"Riku?" He stopped as he flicked the light off and turned, ears perked. "Mind, staying here with me? Tonight?"

 

He smiled, seeing her silhouette outlined by her flashing, neon green hair. "Anything for you."

 

The Neko walked over to her bed, as she laid down and he crawled in beside her, curling up and he shut his eyes.

 

 

_"Promise you won't leave me?"_

_"I'll protect you from the dark. I promise."_

 

 

He heard their childhood selves whisper as he drifted off.

 

__________

 

 

When Kurt went to look for Riku, who didn't go back to his room, he noticed AJ's door slightly ajar. Blinking once or twice, the mutant hesitantly reached out, and pushed it open a crack. Like so many others, he had scarcely gone near the door, let alone touched it. Especially Riku... her death was the hardest on him.

 

That was why he was stunned to find the young man curled up on her bed, and for a moment he could see him cuddling AJ. Then he blinked hard, pushed the door open all the way as the light from the hallway illuminated the room. Then, reality settled in.

 

Gone were her posters of rock bands, her clothes thrown everywhere, her closet spewing out shoes and coats, and the guitar in it's stand. Gone was her homework laying in a haphazard pile on her desk... gone was her uniform hung proudly on a hook, with her goggles there too. Gone was the numerous photographs of her aunt and uncle, of her friends and her teammates- her 'alternative family' as she called them. Gone was the arts college she'd tacked up above her computer. Gone was her hopes and dreams of her prospective future.

 

Gone was her messy bed, stripped bare and only a mattress did Riku sleep upon, curled around a person who had left them six months prior.

 

It was over. Too soon, and too quick, at the hands of a mystery who stole her from them.

 

Kurt shut the door, and wept.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a one-shot based on a RP a buddy and I did. Don't worry, AJ actually wasn't supposed to die. Maybe someday I'll write up the actual canon-thingy lol.


End file.
